Sanitary can



H. SCHRADER.

SANITARY CAN.

APPLlcATloN FILED mm2?. 1920.

Patented Nov. 8, 1921.

UNITED V STATES PATENT OFFICE.

A SANITARY CAN.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. s, 1921.

Application tiled January 27, 1920. Serial No. 354,423.

for the preservation of food products, which,

following use as a preserving container of any of the various liquid or non-liquid products of the cannery or packing house, is adapted for re-use in the domestic preservation of fruits, vegetables and like products.

The cans heretofore employed by canners and packers have uniformly possessed forms which precluded their re-use as containers for products which require that they be hermetically sealed. Where used by eanners of food products, such as fruits and vegetables, either the closure has beeniitted to hermetically seal the can in such a way that access for removal of the contents of the latter could be had only by destroying or mutilating'the can to the extent that its reuse as a lpreserving container is rendered impossible or impracticable, or, where the closure has been removed without mutilation, its form is such that its re-application to produce a hermetically tight joint is impracticable under conditions whlch obtain in the ordinary household. Further, the cans heretofore used by packers of non-liquid products, as lard, coffee, and the like, have ordinarily had removable heads or caps of forms not adapted for hermetic sealing.

The object of the present invention is to provide a can which may be originally employed by the canner or packer to hermetically seal his product, which may .be readily o end without mut1lat1on of, or mjlpry to, eiher the can or the closure, and whic when empty, may be re-used by the housewife in the mannerofordmary commercial forms of preserving cans for the packing of foods whlch require that they be hermetically sealed.

A further object is to produce a can and closure of the character mentioned which is Y. simple in its construction and which can be manufactured at a cost little, if any, in excess of that of producing the cans used heretofore, as aforesaid, and which, therefore, provides for a substantial economy being effected when re-used by the housewife for preserving purposes.

lVith these and other important objects in View, the invention resides in' the features of construction which will hereinafter be described, reference being had to the aecompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a central section, greatly enlarged, of the can head and the removable,

cap or cover as said parts appear prior to appllcation of said cap or cover, and- Fig. 2 is a similar section of the upper end of a can, showing the positions occupied by the parts when the cap or cover has been ap lied for closing the can.

\ eferring to said drawings, l indicates the body of a can to the upper end of which is attached, as by double seaming or by soldering, the circumferential downturned flange 2 of a head which is generally designated by the numeral 3. Said head is pressed from sheet metal to form an inwardly and downwardly inclined circular portion 4 which has said ange 2 formed peripherally thereof, an inwardly and upwardly inclined portion 5, and a substantially vertical neck portion 6. Said inclined portion 5 is joined to the inclined portion 4 by a short verticalwall 7 which constitutes an inwardly facing shoulder, and said neck portion 6 rises from the inner edge of said portion 5.

An outwardly turned roll or bead 8 is formed at the upper edge of the neck portion 6, the same being designed to receive in seated relation thereto the roll portion 9 of a cap or cover 10. Said roll portion, which provides a downwardly facing channel for the reception of said ad 8, is .formed at .the upper terminus of a substantially vertical wall 11 located peripherally with respect to the flat central portion 1 0 of said cap or cover; and said channel 1s adapted to have a suitable sealing material 12, as a rubber cementv or other compound, disposed therein to form with said bead 8 a tight hermetic seal. f

The vertical wall 11 of the cap or cover l0 is adapted to fit more or less snugly the interior of the neck portion 6 to form a hermetic sanitary closure. Following application of said cap or cover, as at the Cannery or packing house, downwardly directed pressure is applied, as by means of a press, not only for rmly seating said cover to a point where the bead 8 is embedded in the sealing cement, but also to depress the inwardly and upwardly inclined portion -5 of the head 3 to the horizontal plane, as shown in Fig. 2.

As is obvious, the diameter ofthe mouth 10 is of such-length that, when said cap is seated in can-sealing position, its lower edge remains elevated above the surface of the portion 5 of the head 3 to the extent that the edge of a. suitable instrument may be introduced beneath said edge for prying off the cap. To further facilitate the introduction of such instrument, the said edge may be flared outward slightly, as shown at 14.

When the can is re-usedl for domestic canning or packing, the capis forced into closing relation to the ymouth opening, after which a sealing `cement or wax may be a flowed into the channel between the shoulder 7 and the neck 6 to embed the lower or flared edge 14. Obviously, the can constructed as nel, and a cap having described is adapted for such domestic sealing equally as well as the common forms of cans heretofore designed and commercially available for household canning or preserving of fruits, vegetables and the like.

What is claimed is- In a. can, a body having a head formed with an inclined part which extends downwardly from the top of the body, the lower end of the inclined part being extended downwardly and then substantially parallel to the plane of the top of the body and then upwardly to form a relatively shallow chana downwardly facing channel receiving the upwardly extending part of the head and having the lower edge of the outer wall defining the channel fiared outwardly to overlie the bottom of the channel of the head inspaced relation thereto and in spaced relation to the lower terminal of the inclined part so as to allow an instrument to be engaged with the inclined part of the head and with the flared part of the cap so as to enable removal of the latter.

In testimony whereof I alix my signature in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HERBERT SCHRADER.

Witnesses:

H. E. DUNLAP, THos. J. Runen. 

